Oh boy. I just lost this whole post with the touch of one button. Now what did I even type? I've been working on my second Lady Eleanor. My first Lady was made of Kureyon. She feels like a blanket to wear, although I think she looks prettier than she feels. The colors are clear in yellows, greens and oranges, but they don't blend together as well as I'd like them to. I think that I bought the yarn online, and of course expected the colors to look altogether different. So now I'm working on my second Lady and I'm loving her. 
This is the yarn that I made Butterfly out of. Butterfly has hung idle in my closet for a few years. She never fit me well, despite cinching in and steeking arms. She was just screaming out to be a Lady. Now I thought that I was going to be true to this Lady, especially because she is just an enjoyable knit. But...
Yesterday my husband and I stopped at the Farmingdale yarn store. It is just so nice a store, as large as many we saw out in the Midwest. There are the normal workhorses, but also so many yarns that I don't see anywhere else. She has a great selection of sock yarn too, not that I need any more of that. Her yarn selection is varied, from fine cashmere to silk. I can't say enough nice things about it. The con: it is too far away from my home.
So I'm walking around the store, with my very patient husband. He's very good about my indulgences and even picks up some skeins to look at them. She had an unusual scarf on a table and I knew that I wanted this to be my next project. It is the Swirl Shawl, although mine is going to be a scarf.
Now a bit about the yarn. I had never seen this Jojoland Melody yarn. It comes in some beautiful colors and has the barber-pole look of handspun with many colors twirling round each other. It is splitty and fine. I have not encountered a lot of knots, as others have complained about. The colors look ordinary in incandescent light, but bring them towards natural light and they flash. The scarf only takes two skeins. I've worked up some hints as I've been working on it.
First, I'm using two size 5 Addi circulars and working it as I do socks. It is a good thing that I've made socks this way because it is very awkward, especially to start. The join wants to twist and come apart so I am casting on one extra stitch and looping the last over the first to tighten the join. I'm also using the end of the cast on strand with the regular yarn (double) when knitting the first few stitches on the row. This has made the join much more secure. 
Additionally, I'm marking every 10th stitch when I cast on so that I can determine where to join the next swirl more accurately. I've written the rows out on index cards, punched and joined with a ring. This way I can flip each card as I finish a row. This is not an easy knit, but I'm liking how it's coming out.
So we are off to a fair tonight to get our taste of fair food before I go back to Operation-Eating-Well. It should be a fun night.
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